Who's Gonna Bite it Next?

I'm usually not a big fan of death pools, because they are usually about as bittersweet as contests come, unless you pick really horrible people every year. But considering there's no justice in this world, no one in their right mind could comfortably pick a list of people everyone generally wants to die because they'd never win.

But this pool will be slightly less tragic, at least to those who aren't fans of the bands they're picking:

What bands will break up in the year 2007? Insider information is frowned upon. For example, Fidel Castro's band has been on the ropes for years. High school/local bands are not really eligible because "I know The Half-Baked Heroes are going to break up because Jimmy's graduating LOLOLOL" takes the fun out of the speculation. I'd be interested to hear any guesses though and share some of mine for bands that will crumble this year:

The Killers: Brandon Flowers' inability to keep his mouth shut might get the better of what has become his backup act. Disappointment over the last album and the timing of their recent/current tour might lead to further internal problems in the band. I suppose they're still financially successful, but I could really see Flowers ditching his guys, thinking he can do better marketing himself, or his band just getting really sick of him being their pencil-moustache, paisleyed Gwen Stefani.

Arctic Monkeys: The combination of an album cover with a guy smoking a cigarette "Whatever People Say I Am..." and the subsequent EP with an f-bomb in the title. I love the music, but that combination of simple aesthetics and profanity sounds like a drug the Vines used to push.

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead: According to a few sources, Conrad Keely has been dealing with a few personal problems recently, manifested in an outburst against his guitarist onstage at a live show.



I was one of the few that enjoyed "Worlds Apart," and since "Source Tags and Codes," the band hasn't gained the recognition fans might expect. Still. It might be time to end the instrument-destroying, mic-throwing, guitarist-attacking schtick, and just open up an Austin coffeeshop. (They could smash the cappuccino machine after every order!)